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Especially adapted to the Pacific Coast 




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PRINTED BY CALIFORNIA ORCHARD AND FARM l — J 



CALIFORNIA INCUBATORS 





INVINCIBLE 
HATCHER 



We have sold 600 of these machines in six months and have not had one 
complaint. They are a hot water machine, self regulating, well made and per- 
fectlj T reliable, the regulator acting perfectly. We furnish everything necessary 
but the eggs, oil and water, and will promptly refund your money if not exactly 
as represented. Send for our new catalogue, enclosing 4 cents. 100 eggs, $17: 
200 eggs, $20; 300 eggs, $25. 

E. A. NOYES, Agent for the Pacific Coast. 

Truest Butte, California. 

The Stonse* iDtfibalor 

OF PETALUMA. 

This old, and in this locality, so favorably known Incubator, is advertised 
* for the first time, now, to the public at large. Its regulation is perfect, 
distribution of heat equalled by few, surpassed by none, is made of the 
best materials and by the best of workmen. Prices: 350 Egg Capacity $45: 
480 Egg Capacity, $55. For further particulars address, 

H. J. HORWEGE, Petaluma, Cal. 

>0000<K>0<K>0<H>0<>0<>0<>0000000000<>00<^^ 




TUB '95. 

Hot Air and 
Sot "Water 
InculDator 



COMBINED 

Entirely Neu) Invention. 



This Cut shows the '94 Style. 



TRIPLE CASE. DOUBLE DOORS, 
Model Copper Heater, Double Regulator. 

Our new Catalogue will give full description of this 

Combined Incubator, Brooders, Poultry and 

Supplies. Mailed free on application. 

Santa Ana Incubator Co., 

SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA. 



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Especially adapted to the Pacific Coast. 






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Pubijshed BY C. NISSON, Petaluma, Cal. 
1894. 






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CIXICT! A 'TON TN INCUBATORS. 



11. 






HATCHING BY HENS. 



WHAT KIND OF HENS TO USE. 



Nearly all market poultry men, who make the poultry businesj a specialty, 
use incubators, invariably so if they keep very large flocks of hens or raise 
broilers or ducklings for market. Some poultry men who keep less than one 
thousand hens and seldom more than five hundred, and raise young chicks 
merely with a view of keeping up their flocks, still use hens for hatching. 

"Where eggs for market is the principal product taken into consideration, 
some breed or breeds of the Mediterranean class, and usually Leghorns, are 
kept. But as they are very poor sitters and mothers, if hens are to be used 
for hatching all the young chicks, it is absolutely necessary to keep some 
other breeds or crosses for this purpose. 

All the breeds of the Asiatic class make good sitters and excellent mothers, 
are quiet and gentle, but being rather heavy, they are too apt to break eggs in 
the nest if sitting on the thin-shelled eggs of any of the Mediterranean 
breeds. 

All of the American class, the Plymouth Rocks and Wyandottes, being also 
quiet and gentle of disposition and less heavy, are better for hatching pur- 
poses than the Asiatics. The old American Dominick is especially a good 
breed for this purpose, and seems in all localities to be much less inclined to 
disease than the newer breeds. Perhaps, however, the Black-Breasted Bed 
Game and some of the other games, either pure or crossed on some other 
breed, even on non-sitters, make the most satisfactory hen for hatching and 
rearing purposes if rightly managed, which simply means to make them get 
used to being handled. 

HOW TO SET A HEN. 



One often hears people say that hens stealing their nest away always do 
better, hatch their eggs better, bring out a larger hatch and raise their chicks 
better, than hens having been given a nest with eggs from other hens. 
People who say so are either not close observers, or they do not know how to 
set a hen, or they have not got the right kind of a hen. Besides having the 
right kind of hens for sitting purposes, one must also have the right kind of 
quarters and nests for the hens. In all cases the nest should be, or appear to 
the hen to be, secluded. If a box is used for nest, it should never be so deep 
that the hen must jump in order to get off or on it, nor so shallow that the 
eggs can be pushed out of it. 

Where hundreds of chicks are raised annually, it is necessary to have 
special arrangements. They need not be elaborate or costly. If the hatching 
is done after the heaviest storms of the season are over, the hens can be set 
outside in a suitable coop, something like the engraving. At the end of a 
common hen-coop, a box is placed for the hen to set in. This box should be 
made so it can be closed up. The hen is closed in for about twenty-four 
hours after she is set. The coop should also be covered with boards or sacks 
at the end nearest the nest. In the coop is placed food and drink and after 
the hen brings out her brood the nest may be taken away, the opening in the 



coop closed up, and the coop gently moved into fresh ground. ,. The hen with 
her brood should occupy this coop for two to three weeks. In the nest should 
of course be put suitable litter, a little coarse straw in the bottom and a 
softer material on top. It is well to put a little sulphur on the top of the lit- 
ter, then put the eggs in. If the hen has fleas, also put in some insect 
powder. This is usually all that is necessary. Late in the season the box 
can be dispensed with if the coop is in a well sheltered and dry place. Simply 
scoop out a hole in one corner, and make a nest there, cover the coop well so 
that rain will not get into the nest. 

Always make a point to set several hens at a time so as to put two or more 
broods together. A hen can take care of sixteen to forty chicks. I have 
often had them care for the latter number when weather was not too cold 
and rough, and it always appeared to me that the hens with large broods 
always did the best. Where there are so many chicks she is compelled to 
hover oftener, and the chicks have always a chance to get under her. With 
only a few chicks she is more apt to be careless. 

The earlier hens can be set the better usually, still as it takes more time 
comparatively, to care for a few broods than for many, it is sometimes not 
well to be in too much of a hurry. Where many hundreds of chicks are 
to be raised it is quite a task, and it is necessary to husband one's energies so 
they will last to the end. It will not do to rest or become careless until the 
task is finished. 



While the common A-shaped lath coop will, in most cases, answer all pur- 
poses, both while the hen is hatching and rearing her brood, even if placed 
outside in a dry and sheltered situation, it may sometimes be better to have 
covered houses and fenced-in runs made specially for the purpose. As the 
construction of such yards and sheds depends so much upon varying circum- 
stances, it will hardly be of much benefit to describe any particular system. 
Anyone who intends to make a business of chicken-raising must possess in- 
genuity enough to adapt himself to circumstances. It may be said, however, 
that elaborate and costly contrivances are not necessarily the best. On the 
contrary, plain coops and houses that can easily be cleaned and, if possible, 
moved about, are the best. 

In speaking of early-raised chicks it means, here on this coast, winter- 
raised chicks. If hatched after the middle of March they are not considered 
early, and in most localities in California chicks hatched late in April or later 
seldom do well. In many places, however, it is quite easy and also profitable 
to hatch in August and succeeding months. If the broods hatched then can 
be placed on the edge of a corn-patch or cabbage, bean or other green-crop 
patch they often do remarkably well. The mellow soil, green food and many 
insects always abounding in such places is much in their favor ; besides, the 
hens having passed the busiest part of the laying season will stay with their 
broods longer. They often begin moulting while going with their broods, 
and being well cared for will be apt to get so well over this period as to begin 
laying before winter weather sets in, and keep on laying all winter. 

^Why chicks hatched in August, September and October should do better 
than May and June hatched chicks is not easily explained, but it is a fact, 
and as it is so easy to get broody hens at that time of the year, when even 
non-sitters condescend to hatch and raise their chicks pretty well, it is rather 



fortunate and should be taken advantage of where hens are used for hatching. 
There is only one drawback to fall hatching; that is lice. It is usually the 
worst time of the year with lice, and it is no use to try to raise lice and chicks 
at the same time. 

SHE MUST BE FREE FROM LiCE. 

If it is necessary at all times to keep hens free from lice it is doubly so 
while she is used for hatching purposes. A hen should be clean when she 
begins hatching. The most common of these parasites is the hen-mite, often 
called the red mite on account of its color when full of blood. Unlike a louse 
it stays on the fowl only while feeding, and leaves them when satisfied, to 
hide under the perches or in the cracks of the house. These mites multiply 
so fast and, on account of their staying on the poultry only a short time, and 
that mostly at night, the hens are utterly at their mercy as their dusting 
themselves during the daytime can do them no good. The poultryman must 
therefore do the work for the hen. Fortunately it is comparatively easy to 
•destroy them. The remedies are so many, and most of them quite efficient, 
that the choice of the various remedies is of less importance than the thor- 
oughness with which they are applied. Coal-oil will kill all it comes in con- 
tact with but, on account of its volatile nature, must be used often. Crude 
petroleum has more staying qualities and, if the perches and walls inside the 
house are well painted with it, it will destroy the mites pretty thoroughly, as 
those not reached directly can not get out of their hiding-places without get- 
ting into itf* Coal-tar is similar to crude petroleum but hardens quicker and 
is, therefore, not quite so good. Crude carbolic acid, mixed with water, a 
good-sized teaspoonf ul to one gallon of water, or half a teacup to an ordinary 
four-gallon bucket, if sprayed with a good force-pump having a good nozzle, 
and driven well into all cracks is a good and quick remedy. The same may 
be said of water alone heated to as near boiling-point as can be used. When 
either of the two latter remedies are used the perches should be painted with 
orude petroleum, or grease melted and mixed with coal-oil in such a propor- 
tion that it is like thick paint when cold. These remedies, except the coal-oil 
alone, if well done will clean houses thoroughly and need not be done more 
than three times a year. If nothing but coal-oil is used the houses must be 
gone over monthly, at least. 

The long, dirty-white body louse is the next in importance. It would, in- 
deed, be far more annoying than the red mite if it was not for the fact that 
hens are able to clean themselves pretty thoroughly of this parasite if they 
are, at all times, liberally supplied with dusting places, and are fed well and 
kept in good health. Ordinarily, nothing else is required except where poul- 
try is in any way crowded, in which case a regular warfare may have to be 
inaugurated against this pest. When a hen is to be used for hatching she 
must be examined and rid of them before being put upon the nest. Dusting 
with buhach if done well, is a pretty, sure remedy. Sulphur simply dusted 
into the feathers does not seem to be quite as efficient. The fumes of sulphur 
kills most of the various kinds of lice but the heat of the hen is not sufficient 
to produce fumes except when hatching. For this reason a small handful of 
sulphur on top of litter in the nest, as recommended before, is at least a good 
preventive and, as far as my experience goes, a cure. 



Only one more of these skin parasites need be mentioned, because it can 
not be destroyed by any of the above remedies. This is usually known as 
the head-louse ; it is, however, not a louse, but a tick. The best remedy is, 
undoubtedly, a little oil or lard applied to the head, where they are mostly 
found. 

Pleas are sometimes, also, very annoying. Buhach kills them but it may 
have to be repeated two or three times during incubation. 

It may seem a good many preliminaries to go through with before setting 
a hen but it should be remembered that all these hen-enemies do not neces- 
sarily exist. In fact, the successful poultryman has his hens clean, usually,, 
or nearly so, and with only a little extra precaution during the hatching sea- 
son, will have his broods come off clean. 

"While hatching, the hen should be as little disturbed as possible and the 
attendant, whenever around feeding or looking after her should move about 
quietly and slowly. The eggs used for hatching should, of course, be from 
good, healthy and strong stock and as fresh as possible. If eggs have to be 
kept for any length of time, say from one to four weeks, they should remain 
in a cool and even temperature, from about 40 to 55° 

RAISING CHICKS BY HENS. 

It is comparatively easy to raise chicks by hens if there are no lice to begin 
with, the hen has ordinary motherly instinct, it is the right season and no 
extraordinary circumstances interfere. A hen stealing her nest away often 
succeeds in raising nearly all her chicks without any assistance, so if the 
hen is fayored in the way of providing food for herseJf and young ones, and 
protected from her natural enemies, she should certainly be able to raise at 
least 80 per cent, of her chicks, and can do it easy enough with proper 
management. 

She should be given as favorable a location as possible, it should be rather 
open but sheltered from raw winds ; under large trees or in orchards, unless 
the trees are small, are not good locations. If an orchard has to be used, 
the brood should be put at the edge, the most sunny and sheltered side being 
preferred. If the location is too open and exposed some shelter should be 
furnished, always remembering that it is near the ground the shelter is 
needed. 

The coop in which the hen is confined ought not to be too small, one end 
and part of one side next to this end should be tight enough so the hen can 
be sheltered from rain and strong wind, and also if need be have shade. A 
fair sized A coop is 4x3j base, height 2£ feet. The length of time in which a 
hen with a brood should be confined to her coop will depend upon circum- 
stances and the hen, it will vary from one to three weeks, but need very 
seldom exceed two weeks. The coop should be daily moved a little on fresh 
ground so as to avoid filthiness. After a hen has occupied a coop constantly 
for about a week, and especially if it is the same coop and in the same 
locality where she hatched her brood, she will return to this coop at night if 
let out in the daytime. If this is also the place where the young ones are to 
remain, a hen house might be put up theie when the chicks are about four 
weeks old. The hen will soon take to this house, and the young ones will go 
to roost with her when six or eight weeks old and perhaps sooner. The 
perches should be removed if the hen goes to roost before it is desirable. 



About feeding the broods it will be necessary to say a little on the rood 
question, not because it is in any way difficult to feed properly, but many 
people have a notion that it is the most important part of chicken 'raising 
and the most difficult to do right. Impractical and fussy writers are mainly 
responsible for this timidity. As a matter of fact chicks as well as hens are 
exceedingly easy to please. The most important thing about feeding is to 
feed liberally (not wastefully), not to feed forever only one thing; not even 
the best of chicken feed, wheat, if fed quite exclusively is good for best re- 
sults. Some variety of food should always be given, and in proportion to the 
chance the chicks have of supplying themselves with a change of food 
around their runs. Nearly all kinds of table scraps form a very acceptable 
variety, indeed, no sensible observing person who takes pleasure in feeding 
young chicks (and who do not) need be afraid to feed wrong. It is only 
those who trust to these impractical writers rather than their own good 
common sense, who are apt to make mistakes. Given plenty of food, of 
water, of grit, and comfortable clean quarters, with a watchful, careful 
attendant and success is pretty certain. 

This finishes the chapter on natural hatching and rearing. While per- 
haps the practical, experienced poultry raiser has not been benefited by read- 
ing it, I hope it has been sufficiently plain to beginners and others who have 
not made a specialty of poultry raising heretofore to be of service. The 
natural process of hatching will not likely ever be entirely abolished, indeed 
if systematically and carefully managed a great many chicks can be raised 
with comparatively little work and loss. 




ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 



Artificial incubation is now practiced to a very great extent by market 
poultry men as well as others not making a specialty of poultry farming. 
This is owing to the comparative perfect hatching machines made at the 
present day. It would not be truthful to call the incubator of to-day 
absolutely perfect, all the statements of incubator manufacturers to the 
contrary, notwithstanding, no incubator can hatch as well as a good heD, 
it will neither hatch as strong chicks nor as large a percentage. It may be 
said, and quite truthfully, that a good incubator properly managed will give 
better results than the average hen, but a good hen, free from lice and given 
a good chance in every way, will do considerably better. The exact reason 
why this is so we do not know, at least I have not heard of or seen anybody 
make even a good suggestion toward an explanation, indeed, most writers on 
this subject that I have had a chance to read, do not even seem to acknowl- 
edge the fact at all, but seem to believe that incubators can do better than 
any hen ; this is certainly not so. 

It seems to be in starting the life in the egg that incubators fail the most 
and perhaps it is only the beginning which is defective in artificial hatching. 
Not only do many eggs, which upon being opened seem to be perfectly fer- 
tilized fail to come to life, but many also die within a week, usually within 
three days after life started. After this and until the eighteenth day very 
few die, perhaps . no more than would die under a hen, but between the 
eighteenth and twenty-first day quite a large percentage, seldom less than 
10 per cent. die. This later mortality may be partly, perhaps entirely 
due to the defective beginning, the embryo chick not having got a sufficiently 
strong start to enable it to stand the strain in getting out of the shell. 
There may be other reasons I do not know, neither do I know why the arti- 
ficial start should be so inferior to the natural start, however the two starts 
differ very materially. In the incubator the eggs are heated up simply by 
exposing the eggs to hot air. As air is not a good conductor of heat it takes 
a long time for the eggs to become blood warm, about twelve hours. Under a 
hen the eggs are in direct contact with its body (as is well known the 
hen plucks all her feathers under her body out before she begins incuba- 
tion), her skin being a good conductor of heat the eggs very quickly and very 
thoroughly become heated up to blood heat. We all know how quickly a cold 
hand absorbs heat from a hot forehead, or a cold foot from a warm one when 
in direct contact with each other. It is therefore quite a certainty that ec^s 
under a hen become warm in at least the tenth part of the time it takes eg^s 
in an incubator to acquire the same temperature. 

tf5ut whether this is the reason that incubator eggs do not start as well as 
eggs under hens, I cannot say possibly, but it appears to me to be not un- 
reasonable to suppose it has at least much to do with it. This supposition is 
somewhat strengthened by experiments I made several j T ears ago in heatin^ 
up my incubators very thoroughly so that the sand in the trays became 
quite warm before I put in the eggs. Eggs started under hens and finish*,! 



9 

In an incubator nearly always come out stronger and better than those 
started in the incubator. Not long since I found a nest a hen had stolen and 
left, the eggs were quite cold and I put them iu the incubator; every egg 
brought forth a chick and every chick came out clean and dry and strong. 

I have frequently started eggs under hens to refill the incubators with 
after testing, and these eggs have always hatched the best. Some market 
poultrymen make it a practice to start all their eggs under hens whenever it 
is practicable for tbem to do so, and only finish them in the incubator in 
order to have them come out free from lice, using brooders for rearing the 
chicks. 

All these facts tend to show pretty conclusively that the artificial begin- 
ning is faulty. The reason why I cannot say positively, that it is only, or at 
least mainly the beginning of artificial hatching which is faulty, is that I 
have not had a chance to fully demonstrate that eggs started in incubators 
and finished under hens come out materially better than if finished in the 
incubator. We have in this, as in everything, much to learn ; in order to 
come to true conclusions we must experiment very carefully and patiently. 
The most important thing is to locate the fault, remedies are comparatively 
easy to apply when the trouble is conclusively proved. It was my first plan 
to make more exhaustive experiments before writing these articles, but upon 
second consideration, and judging from past experience, I felt certain that 
even if I solved this one point two other points would be ready for investi 
gation, so I will content myself and hope my readers will be content with 
stating as my present opinion, that the slowness of heating the egg to blood 
heat the first time is one of the main drawbacks to artificial incubation, and 
every time after, when eggs cool down much, this same drawback is acting 
in continually less degrees as we near the close of the hatch. I do not wish 
it to be understood to be a dead certainty, and especially would I not wish it 
to be understood that the cooling off of eggs should not take place at all. 
But this will be considered further on. We will now consider 

THE INCUBATOR AS WE FIND IT. 

We have what is called hot water and hot air incubators. There is not so 
much difference in the action of these two- kinds as many people seem to 
think. The egg chamber in either is of course filled with hot air. The pipes 
or tanks, which in one kind contains hot water and the other hot air are, and 
must be, perfectly air tight; their' function is to heat the air in the egg 
chamber. Whether they contain water, air, oil or any other medium is of 
no particular importance, so long as they furnish the necessary heat and dis- 
tribute the same evenly to all parts over the egg trays. That the air in a 
hot-water incubator should be more moist than in a hot-air incubator, is of 
course not so, at least no good argument has been brought forward to prove 
it. But even if it is so, it would be of no particular advantage, as moisture 
can be applied in quantities to suit in any kind of incubator, and too muclt 
moisture is just as bad as too little of it. A certain amount of heat must be 
applied and the simplest and cheapest way of furnishing it is the best othel 
things being equal. It is of utmost importance to have the heat so evenly 
distributed that the heat is at least nearly the same in all parts of the egg 
chamber on" the level of the eggs. In nearly all square incubators it is some* 
what difficult to get the corners as warm as the other parts. Even if ttoF 



10 

temperature is at first nearly even, toward the close of the hatch the differ- 
ence will be larger, owing to the fact that the chicks in the eggs then furnish 
some heat, and consequently the heat will be higher in the center than on 
the outside, and especially the corners. The reason for this is plain enough 
and need not be enlarged upon. 

In selecting an incubator this should therefore be duly considered, 
although slight variation can be easily overcome by changing the position 
of the eggs in the trays when turning the eggs. Perhaps in this connection 
I might mention that it is not quite safe to judge the temperature of the egg 
chamber by the degrees registered by the thermometer lying on eggs that 
have been in the incubator ten days or over, it must then be taken into con- 
sideration that the heat of the eggs after that day may vary and influence the 
thermometoi accordingly. For this reason the evenness of the temperature 
in the egg chamber can best be ascertained during the first week of the hatch. 
Another important thing to consider is the ventilation, or it is perhaps better 
to call it, 

THE CIRCULATION OF AIR IN INCUBATORS. 

During the first period of the modern incubator making, the manufac- 
turers argued that eggs containing a living breathing being must necessarily 
need fresh air, and like all breathing life must throw off carbonic acid, and 
carbonic acid being fatal had to be got rid of. It was argued that this gas 
being heavy, incubators should have plenty ventilation below the eggs. In- 
deed, some incubators were made with no solid bottom to them at all. When it 
was found that less ventilated incubators hatched better, some makers went 
to the other extreme and made away with ventilation altogether, claiming 
that it was all nonsense about the carbonic acid, that eggs neeeded no fresh 
air, and a few knowing genii even going so far as to claim that the air-space 
in eggs was filled with pure oxygen, sufficient to furnish all the fresh air 
a chick needed and that as a matter of course heat only was needed. 

We are apt to go from one extreme to another and to jump at conclusions. 
As a matter of fact the incubator makers of the first period were by far the 
nearest correct, as far as theory went, and only overdid the fresh air business 
to such an extent that cold drafts were created, causing uneveness of temper- 
ature. Their incubators were in other respects not as near perfect as those of 
to-day, but if those who claimed that no fresh air is needed could have made 
their incubators as air-tight as they supposed they did, they would have made 
a complete failure of it. 

There must be a circulation of air in incubators, and there must be fresh 
air. The idea that the air space in eggs should contain pure oxygen is 
absurd in the extreme. The air space, which is first formed by the contrac- 
tion of the contents upon cooling, increases in size as evaporation takes 
place. This alone proves that the shell of the egg is porous, and that some 
circulation of air must take place.. Pure air is just as essential to young 
life as to more mature beings and this should never be lost sight of. 

What is quite necessary, then, in any kind of incubator, is a constant sup- 
ply of pure air without causing strong draught, which is sure to again cause 
aneven temperature, 

Air is light and very easily put in motion, in fact pretty difficult to keep 
c#.1et. If kept as near quiet as possible the temperature will be proportion- 



11 

ately even at the same level, the upper air being the warmest and the lower 
the coldest. It is, however, impossible to keep air immovable where a con- 
stant supply of new air is introduced. In hot-air incubators heat is usually 
supplied from one point, except in very large ones. At the point where this 
heated air is introduced there is a disturbance. The eggs must be placed far 
enough below this point so as to be in a layer of air not directly affected by 
it. The larger this supply of air must be and the more it is confined ro one 
point the further the eggs must be below it. As, however, it is somewhat diffi- 
cult to force heat downward, it will require more heat to keep up the temper- 
ature in a high egg-chamber than in a low one; therefore, to make extreme 
height unnecessary the hea r , is either first conveyed to a tank or drum, thus 
extending the point of disturbance over a large area and in a horizontal direc- 
tion, or a screen is interposed between the egg-trays and this heat supply; or 
the egg- trays must be placed in a more or less slanting position in order to 
receive the same degree of heat. 

The accompanying drawings show this more plainly than words. In fig. 
1 the heated air radiates from one point. The dotted lines show what would 
likely be the lines of equal temperature. The egg-trays would have to be 
quite a long distance below the point where the heated air is introduced be- 
fore a nearly level line could be found, and an absolutely level line could 
rarely be reached. Either a screen or a tank properly placed will overcome 
this effectually. In hot water incubators the heat is introduced more evenly 
all over than in hot air incubators. 

In hot-water incubators the water, whether circulating through pipes or 
tanks, has about the same temperature all over, hence it is somewhat easier 
to get the even temperature in hot water incubators than in hot air incuba- 
tors. The evenness of the temperature does not however depend alone upon 
how the heated air is supplied. 

Incubators are not made air tight, there must be openings for the air, as 
it expands, to escape, if not the temperature could not rise ; there would be no 
circulation. It is therefore necessary to have openings for air to escape, 
even if a constant stream of hot air is not continually introduced. Cir- 
culation is necessary. The very reason whj T corners in square incubators 
are so difficult to get as warm as the rest of the incubator is just because of 
the imperfect circulation there. These openings are of course of much im- 
portance, and their size and location should be carefully studied. They 
must always be below the egg trays, preferably in the bottom, and the 
bottom should not be too close to the egg trays. 

If these openings or holes were just of a size only necessary to furnish 
the needed escape of air, the best places for them in square incubators would 
be in the corners, for the reason that the air would then be forced toward 
the corners, causing the circulation of the heated air into these corners. 

But as the volume of air which is forced downward varies greatly, they 
must be of a size in order to be large enough at all times, that at times, and 
in fact most the time, the current will be the other way if, as of course is 
always the case, the temperature of the incubator room is lower than that of 
the egg chamber and cold air will enter. As the corners, of all places, are 
where we don't want a cold draft, it is really a mistake to make the holes in 
the corners, in spite of the fact that a great many incubators, have the holes 
just there. The proper place for the escape hole is just under the warmest 



12 

spot of the egg trays, which is usually in the center, or toward the back end 
in incubators were the doors are in one end only. 

^In nearly all square incubators it will be of advantage to cut off about 
three inches of the outside corners of the egg trays. Where wire or other 
kind of open bottomed trays are used, the opening in the bottom influences 
the eggs directly over them much more than in solid bottomed trays, and 
precautions must be taken accordingly. 

I have dwelt somewhat at length on circulation of air as it is important 
for operators to pay particular attention to the circulation of air in the in- 
cubators they use. Much of the failure is just caused by faulty circulation 
of air, and no incubator can act alike in all kinds of climates and situations. 
Pure air and even temperature must both be had. Pure air with uneven 
temperature will not do, neither will even temperature with impure air. 

The way doors are placed In incubators also affects the temperature, and 
the frequent opening of doors has a disturbing influence. In large incu- 
bators, having a width of three feet or over, it is best to have doors on the 
two opposite sides. If on one side only uneven circulation and temperature 
is apt to be caused, not only because the doors open on but one side, thus 
causing a more frequent and rapid cooling of the eggs there, but also be- 
cause even if the doors are opened as little as possible, they never fit 
so exactly, especially in old incubators, but that air will enter more or less 
freely, and so this side in a manner monopolizes the circulation, while the 
air in the back part is apt to become stagnant. In this way both an uneven 
temperature and unequal purity of air may be the result. 

Bound or octagonal shaped incubators are not used now as much as 
formerly, because, I suppose, they are more expensive to make. 80 it will 
not be necessary to discuss them separately to any extent as the advantages 
they may possess over square ones will perhaps not counterbalance their 
extra cost. Their main advantage in shape being the absence of square 
corners and thus an even temperature can be more easily obtained. If we 
suppose Fig. 1 and 2 to be round incubators it will be seen that by making 
the trays slant toward the center in Fig. 1 we can have the eggs in a layer of 
air of even temperature, and by interposing a screen as in Fig. 2 of the right 
size and distance from the trays we need not even have the slanting position. 

An incubator shonld not be condemned hastily because the temperature 
is not perfectly even. If the variation is so great as to cause loss the reason 
why. should be found. It should be ascertained whether the fault is in the 
incubator or outside the incubator. If the fault is in the incubator and can 
not be remedied, then lose no time in throwing it away as it will prove an 
expensive tool at any price. 

REGULATING THE TEMPERATURE, 

The importance of regulating the temperature is pretty well recognized, 
in fact it is if anything a little over estimated, and. many failures supposed 
to be due to imperfect regulation, is quite often caused by something else. 
Still the regulator should be a good one and be able to keep the temperature 
below safe degrees. An unreliable regulator is certainly worse than none. 

There are a.great many kiDds cf regulators, some of which are patented. 
The> all act upon the principle of expansion by heat and such bodies as air, 



13 

water, ether, quicksilver, etc., expanding freely are employed in one kind of 
regulators while in another the thermostatic principle, or unequal expansion 
of two "different metals, or similar bodies, is used. Thus, for instance, if a 
strip of iron and one of zinc be fastened together firmly at the ends and 
loosely in the middle, the one end be fastened to something firm and the 
other end left free, then the free end will sway to and fro as the temperature 
varies, because heat expands the one metal, zinc, more than the other, iron. 
Zinc being of the metals the one expanding most by heat, and iron the least, 
these two metals would naturally be used if metals are used. Guttapercha, 
expands however nearly five times as much as zinc, and therefore a bar of it 
with a strip of iron would be preferable. 

Of the liquids that may be used for expanding a regulator, sulphuric 
ether expands the most, sulphuret of carbon, alcohol, linseed oil, water, 
quicksilver, next in the order named. Of more importance than the respect- 
ive expansive power of these liquids is the material used for enveloping 
them. These must be made of the most flexible material consistent with 
the necessary strength, as the resistant power of the envelope is apt to pre- 
vent the gradual expansion of the fluids and cause the expansion to be spas- 
modic, and of course a regulator expanding in a jerky manner is very un- 
satisfactory. The envelopes must also be of a material that can withstand 
the chemical actions of the fluids used. Where a perfectly airtight vessel is 
not necessary to envelop the fluids used, as water or non-evaporating oils, a 
float in an open vessel may be used. 

The function of a regulator is to work a delicately hung lever, the lever 
to open a valve in the egg chamber or heating pipes, or simply cause the 
flame of the lamp to decrease or increase by working a double wick tube, or 
it may be used to connect or sever an electric current, the valves being 
worked by electricity instead of a lever. The latter method is used now far 
less than formerly because it requires the extra work of keeping a battery in 
working order. If a battery should happen to be out of order the regulator 
is quite useless, and as it is apt to get out of order without warning or at 
least unexpectedly, especially to amateurs, it can not be considered a good 
method. It is true it works with absolute accuracy when in proper working 
order, but there is no necessity of keeping the temperature always at one 
point. 

It will be unnecessary to go into a more detailed description of the various 
regulators which may be used in incubators or brooders, as all leading incu- 
bators have reliable regulators, and where, in home made incubators one is 
wanted, it is cheaper to buy from some manufacturer of incubators or dealer 
in poultry supplies than to try to make one. Bat it is well to be somewhat 
familiar with the construction and workings of whatever regulator one uses. 

MOISTURE IN INCUBATORS. 

Besides pure air of the right temperature it is also of importance to guard 
against air becoming too dry. The moisture which exists in the atmosphere 
under ordinary circumstances may be considered the right amount for the 
successful hatching of eggs under hens. Since the temperature of the eggs 
under hens rarely ever exceeds 103 degrees it may be reasonably supposed 
that if the heat of the eggs in an incubator does not exceed the same temper- 



14 

ature then no moisture should be added to the air in the incubator, unless it 
is unduly ventilated. It is true that eggs closely covered by a hen may not 
•evaporate as much as eggs in an incubator, where there is always "more or 
less circulation of air passing over them; still, unless the incubator is in a 
very open, dry room, or the incubator more ventilated than is necessary, no 
extra moisture need be added. It is somewhat difficult to keep the heat down 
to 103 deg. in incubators during the last half of the hatch and it is, therefore, 
necessary to see that the air does not become too dry then. As many operat- 
ors prefer to run the incubator at 104 deg. with more frequent cooling of the 
eggs than at 103 deg. with less cooling, more moisture must then be applied. 
To condense it into a rule : The higher the temperature the more moisture 
must be supplied, because more evaporation takes place. There are excep- 
tions to this rule, but to go into detailed explanations would take unnecess- 
ary space. Most persons are aware when the atmosphere is abnormally dry 
or humid and will take precautions according^. Besides, the evaporation 
that must take place, to make a successful hatch, is not confined to such a 
narrow limit that we need be afraid of erring much if we are observant. 

THE BEST WAY TO APPLY MOISTURE. 

Is perhaps, in hot-air incubators, evaporating pans under the egg trays, suf- 
ficiently far below the trays so as not to be exposed to greater heat than be- 
tween 80 and 90 deg., but the construction of the incubator must be consid- 
ered in this connection. There is, however, little danger of too much mois- 
ture from water exposed to only 80 deg. Where sand is used in egg trays it 
may be moistened, whenever it is desired to add to the humidity of the air, 
and it is a very good way. If lamps in hot-air incubators are so constructed 
as to hold water on the top of the oil-tank, then that will both make the lamp 
safer and add sufficient moisture to the incubator for the first week or two, if 
not run above 103 deg. In hot-water incubators, water cups or wet sponges 
for the last week is usually all that is required if any moisture is required at 
all before eggs begin to chip. But the cups should be in the trays or on the 
same level. It is not good practice to put the cups on the hot pipes or tanks. 
Finally, I will say that too much moisture is usually applied by beginners. 
According to my observation whenever chicks become glued to the shell after 
pipping it is a sign that too much moisture has been given or the temperat- 
ure has been too low. If the atmosphere has been too dry chicks will be apt 
to die in the shell before pipping, but of course, that is not the only cause for 
dying in the shell before pipping. Impure air, weak stock, too much heat or 
generally poor management of the incubator may bring about the same re- 
sults. 

THE EFFECTS OF IMPROPER MOISTURE. 

If the proper amount of evaporation has taken place, all the fluids sur- 
rounding the chick and not absorbed by it, has been reduced to the appear- 
ance of a colorless mucuous membrane or lining, which does not stick to the 
chick at all, but from which it emerges clean and free. If from insufficient 
evaporation a proper reduction and thickening of this matter has not taken 
place it is too soft and plentiful to hold together, it does not separate freely 
from the chick, and when the chick chips the shell, allowing air to come in 
contact with it, being of a very glutinous nature, it dries and glues the chick 



15 

to the shell so it can not move, and it perishes if not helped out. Whon 
helped out successfully, the chick will still be covered with this sticky matter, 
which dries quickly and plasters the down onto the body, a condition so 
well known to all who have hatched chicks by incubators. 

When this state of affairs exists it is best to keep the air in the incubato r 
pretty well saturated with moisture, and kept shut as much as possible. This 
prevents, to some extent, a too rapid drying, thus giving the chick a chance 
to get out of the shell before being dried on to it. At the same time it is just 
such hatches which need fresh air, as the air becomes very offensive during 
tho process of incubation. 

A better plan is, therefore, if it can be done, to keep the room wherein the 
incubator is, warm and damp. The incubator can then be opened more free- 
ly and chicks helped out as soon as it is seen they can not get out without 
help. Too low a temperature throughout the hatch also prevents sufficient 
evaporation and the result is similar. 

If the eggs, during incubation, have been exposed to too much heat and 
dry air, this mueuous lining becomes too dry, so the chick can not move 
around freely and at last not at all, when it can not chip, usually dying in 
the shell just ready to chip it. 

TURNING AND COOLING THE EGS. 

As a rule, turning the eggs twice a day is recommended, not that such fre- 
quent turning, in itself, seems necessary or likely is, but in turning the eggs 
one has the opportunity to change the position of the eggs, which is of ad- 
vantage if there is any difference in the temperature of the egg chamber. 
How little turning will suffice I am not able to say, because 1 have never 
neglected the turning so much that any harm seemed to have come from it. 
I make a practice of heating the incubator well before putting in the eggs, 
and then turn them about twelve hours after, or sooner if the temperature 
has reached 100 degrees or over. In turning them then, and indeed during 
the first week, I make it a point not to let the eggs cool down more than I can 
possibly help. 

My reason for turning the eggs so soon is, that there is considerable differ- 
ence in the degree of heat between the under and upper side of the eggs, as 
most incubators supply heat only from above. It, therefore, appears to me 
that frequent turning, if of benefit, is especially so in the beginning of the 
hatch. The difference of heat between the upper and under side grows less, 
gradually. As the chick develops, the necessity for turning diminishes in 
proportion. 

During the first week I cool the eggs as little as possible, because, as said 
at the beginning of this treatise on artificial incubation, the slowness with 
which eggs get heated up when placed in the incubator, and every time they 
are cooled off, is the greatest fault of the incubator. For this reason I take 
care not to cool the eggs much at first. During the latter part of the hatch 
I make it a point to cool the eggs down to 75 or 80 deg., at least every other 
day, and my reason for this is, that the cooling and reheating of the eggs is 
in itself a necessity, in order to assist the embryo in getting fresh air. In 
cooling the eggs the contents naturally contract, and, by so doing, air is 
forced into the airspace from without. In reheating the eggs air is again 
forced out. By this process a fresh air circulation is forced to ta'ke place. 



16 

With the temperature always at the same degree, it is quite likely that 
altogether too little circulation of air takes place in the egg, and the most 
prolific cause of dying in the shell is from lack of pure air. 

If we could heat the eggs after each cooling as quickly as a hen does, and 
without exposing them to excessively hot air, I would recommend a daily 
cooling from, say, the fifth day. This we can not do with any incubator, as 
made at present, and for that reason we must be satisfied with less cooling. 
Each operator must try to find the correct middle way. I can only point out 
the dangers of the extremes, and have given my "middle way" as suits my 
location and incubator. 

Since we can not assist the chick in getting as much fresh air as it ought 
to have by the frequent cooling, as pointed out, and which it gets under hens 
it will be seen that my recommendation to have the air in the egg chamber 
always as fresh as possible, consistent with even heat and no strong currents, 
is based upon my belief that no good opportunity for supplying the embryo 
with fresh air must be neglected. 

ABOUT THE EGGS USED FOR INCUBATORS. 

Taking foi granted that we are not, in all details, able to do as well with 
artificial as natural incubation it follows that we must try to have the condi- 
tions we are able to control in as perfect a state as possible. Important as 
the proper regulation of heat and moisture and judicious cooling are, the 
most important thing after all is that of the eggs used. 

With first-class eggs good results with indifferent management of the in 
cubator is far more certain than the very best management of the very best 
incubator with indifferent eggs. To have eggs in the best possible condition 
it is necessary to have good, healthy, robust stock, well and generously fed 
and with a proper proportion of males. If the stock is confined in yards it 
is important to feed a varied diet. Green food and meat, as well as grain- 
should be fed and a chance for necessary exercise, if the yards are very smalJ f 
must not be overlooked any more than the other requirements necessary for 
vigorous health, With unrestricted run fowls will keep in proper condition 
with far less attention and it is to be recommended wherever practicable. 
The proper proportion of males to females depends somewhat on breed. In 
the Mediterranean class less roosters are needed than in most other classes, 
and in all it is thought necessary to have more males when confined than 
with free range, the males being less vigorous in confinement. With all Leg- 
horns, Minorcas or other bieeds of the Mediterranean class one male to fif- 
teen hens is sufficient, if in open range and the males not too young nor too 
old. In this class the males are, as a rule, in their best condition when one 
and two years old. After that the males are not always so reliable, especially 
where there has been much chance of fighting, to which the males of these 
breeds are much given, and which seems to sap their strength. 

The eggs from hens after the second year though much decreased in num- 
ber are still as good as ever for hatching, Eggs from immature pullets are 
not to be recommended. It may be said that the fresher the eggs the better, 
still, if kept in a cool and even temperature of about 40 to 50 degrees, eggs 
will keep in good condition for hatching quite a long time. They must not 
be kept at a temperature as low as 35 degrees, and the more it is above 45 the 
shorter will be the time they retain their vitality. 



17 



TESTING THE EGGS. 

It is quite impossible to say whether an egg is feitile or not until it has 
been in the incubator for at least two full days, On the third day in bright 
light one can tell pretty well, if the shells are white. In dark shelled eggs 
one can not see the veins in all eggs before the fourth or fifth day. The best 
light for testing is sun light. If one has a sunny window where the sun can 
shine on the egg as it is held to the tester, it is an easy thing to distinguish a 
living egg from a dead one. If the room can be nearly darkened and the sun 
shines on a window, by covering the window with a blanket or curtain, in 
which is made a uole the size of an egg, the test can be made by simply hold- 
ing the egg against the hole. If the eggs must be tested by lamplight a sim- 
ple tester Is made by nailing four boards, six or eight inches wide, together 
like a tube, making it long enough so the tube is twelve inches above where 
the flame of the lamp, which is placed inside, will be, and just opposite the 
flame cut an oval hole the size of an egg. Stretch two thin wires in front of 
the hole the lower one one-half inch and the upper one one and a half inch 
from the tube, in such a manner that they serve as a support for the egg, 
while being held before the hole. If a mirror is placed back of the flame so 
much more light will be thrown toward the hole. The simplest daylight 
tester is made by simply rolling some stiff paper or pliable cardboard into a 
tube eight or ten inches long and a little smaller in diameter than an egg. 
But, as only one eye can be used with such a tester, some will prefer one by 
which both eyes can be used. By cutting a piece of leather or pliable paste- 
board the proper shape in the manner shown, so that it will fit the face when 
folded and exclude the light, a very convenient tester is made. 




SEVEEAL KINDS OF EGG TESTEES. 



All eggs in which no veins are visible on the fifth day are good and can be 
removed. Many of the eggs removed will be nearly clear, showing only a 
faint cioud, which does not move about freely. Such eggs were not fertile 
or had lost their vitality before being put in. They can be used for culinary 
purposes as they are not altered in any way. If, however, there is any blood 
formed or the cloud (or yolk) looks dark or is floating about freely, the egg is 
unfit for kitchen use. It had been fertile, life had started in it and died, It 
takes some practice to be able to tell the difference- when testing such eggs, 
but with a good light it can very well be done and good eggs be saved. On 
the tenth to fifteenth day the eggs should be tested again so as to get all 
dead eggs removed from the incubator. 



18 

ABOUT THERMOMETERS, 

Thermometers should be reliable ; if it is not known that they are correct 
it is an easy matter to find out, by simply standing them together with one 
known to be correct in a vessel with water, so the bulbs are all on a level, 
then slowly heat the water and watch them well when the 103 deg. is reached. 
Let the water go some degrees higher, again noting the difference, if any, of 
the thermometers. A thermometer not registering correctly is only danger- 
ous when it is supposed to be correct. If the fault is known the operator 
allows for the variation, which is always the same. Thermometers should be 
placed on the eggs, the bulbs touching them. During the latter half of the 
hatch it should be seen to that the thermometer does not rest on dead eggs. 
It is always preferable to have more than one thermometer in the incubator 

THE HEAT OF THE INCUBATOR, 

Whether to make the heat of the eggs be 103 deg. with less cooling or lOi 
with more cooling, is best determined by the operator, some prefering the 
one way and others the other. It may be said that during the last week it 
need cause no alarm if the thermometer runs up to 105 or 106 deg. for a while. 
It should not remain too long so, and when noticed it is well to take the eggs 
out for a cooling. 

That cooling of the eggs is necessary I have shown, and also why we can 
not cool as much as we ought to. 

It should be remembered, that it is the eggs and not the incubator we 
desire to cool. The incubator should lose as little of its heat as possible, not 
only for economic reasons, but because the eggs should be reheated as quick- 
ly as possible without exposing them to a very hot blast. In reheating the 
eggs, the temperature of the egg chamber should not be excessively high, 
even if it is desirable to reheat quickly, but when for some reason, (as when 
the eggs have become quite cold from some accident), it becomes necessary 
to have a high temperature in the egg chamber, the air should be made as 
huniid as possible. In heating the eggs the first time a moist atmosphere is 
far better also, as it tempers the bad effect of too high a temperature, which 
one is apt to have. A correspondent of mine makes it a practice to wet the 
sand in his trays with hot, nearly boiling, water when filling his incubator. 
He always has good tests and hatches. As this agrees with my observations 
that eggs placed on moist sand give better tests than on dry sand, I experi- 
mented also with sand made nearly wet with hot water and found the tests 
better than where the sand had been moistened with water not heated. 

In speaking of better tests I mean that I got less of what careless observers 
call infertile eggs, which proved that less germs were destroyed when the air 
was thoroughly saturated with moisture, even though the air of the incubator 
was very hot, in fact very few germs were destroyed, and the eggs which 
were clear were nearly all really infertile. Unless moisture is added, it is 
better to have less heat, not more than 108 deg., even if the eggs heat up 
slower. 

I will now briefly recapitulate the main points about incubation. In nat- 
ural incubation the principal points are : good hens, freedom from lice and 
proper quarters, for the sitting hen. In artificial incubation a well regulated 



19 

incubator, an attendant fully understanding theeffectsof temperature, espec- 
ially in so far as to know, that as a rule the higher the temperature the more 
moisture must be supplied, that the air must always be supplied with suffi- 
cient moisture to prevent a too rapid evaporation from the egg, and at the 
same time not be so saturated with moisture as to prevent the necessary 
evaporation ; to also take in consideration, that when eggs are being heated, 
either when first put in or after a severe cooling, the air, in order to bring 
the eggs up to the proper heat in a reasonable time, is considerably above the 
degree indicated by the thermometer, and moisture to be used accordingly. 

And finally I will add that in my judgment it is far better for the operator 
to get used to rely upon his own judgment than to depend upon hydrometers 
to regulate the moisture. 




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